


Follow (DU)M-E

by HogwartsToAlexandria



Series: Marie's Ironstrange Shorts 2019 [5]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Bruises, Budding Relationship, Canon Compliant, Fri and DUM-E are soft beans, Hurt/Comfort, IronStrange Bingo 2019, Kissing, M/M, Magic Weariness, Stephen Strange Bingo 2019, Tony Stark Bingo 2019, Trust Issues, and Pep a lil shit, soft angst, we love them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 08:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18847729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HogwartsToAlexandria/pseuds/HogwartsToAlexandria
Summary: When Tony overworks himself to the point of not realizing he's injured, Pepper, Friday and DUM-E plot to get him the comfort he needs and will never ask for. It takes the form of one very worried Stephen Strange. It's soft and it's snark and it's them, a new beginning they both deserve.Bad Things Happen bingo: BruisesIronstrange bingo square: Stark Men are made of IronStephen Strange bingo: Hurt and ComfortTony Stark bingo: Matchmaker bots





	Follow (DU)M-E

**Author's Note:**

> Another work that fills four squares!!! The most satisfying thing ever haha, hope you'll like this new story :)
> 
> thank you to the amazing SerenaLunera for beta-ing yet again :D <3
> 
> (Edit: I had accidentally clicked "MCD" instead of "No archive warnings apply" so I apologize to anyone who clicked thinking that was what they were getting because we couldn't be further from the truth ^^)

 

He'd portaled his way to the bottom of the Tower but took the elevator from there as a means to gather his wits around. Great effect that had - how long could it take to get up there anyway? Stephen was a mess by floor 10, what a joke. Didn't know if he should be more worried or mad which, needless to say, only served to annoy him further.

FRIDAY announced he'd reached the correct floor right when Stephen was down to muttering curses under his breath, his foot tapping nervously on the floor. The doors opened on the sight of DUM-E, apparently waiting for him with his arm extended in invitation. Stephen did a double take at its equivalent of a come-hither motion - claw-like fingers opening and closing on thin air in a flurry of metal noises. 

“Hello, lead me to him?” 

DUM-E turned on its axis and rushed down the hallway, Stephen following close behind him. He'd thought they would be headed towards the workshop but it quickly downed on Stephen it wasn't so when he saw the dim lighting and a glimpse of an impressive bathroom in passing. 

Even though he'd never been to this part of Tony's place before Stephen didn't lose any time looking around - tourism could wait till he found Tony, in what state that remained to be seen.

He almost stumbled when DUM-E abruptly stopped and turned around once more, his arm poking on the door they were now both facing.

“Alright, sports, thanks, I got it from here,” Stephen whispered and smiled when DUM-E made a noise his rational mind refused to interpret as grateful but still. 

Stephen ran a mental check on himself, trying to remember both Wong’s sarcastic advice on staying calm and the much more grounding lessons of the Ancient One. Then only did he push the door. 

He tried not to make any noise, unsure of what room exactly he was entering but not keen on waking Tony up if ever he was sleeping behind that door. Count on that.

“I heard you coming, wizard.” 

Stephen might have felt an urge to correct him if the man didn't sound so tired already. He took a few steps into the room and here was Tony, sitting cross legged on what could only be a king size bed except it was absolutely covered in various stacks of papers and schematics. 

Stephen closed the door on an afterthought, shrugging at Tony's questioning eyebrow. 

“FRIDAY called me,” Stephen crossed his arms. 

“I know,” Tony nodded then went back to whatever he'd been doing on his tablet. Like that would be enough to make Stephen go. 

“How long have you been in here?” 

“Who knows. Since Pepper locked the workshop on me and Fri let her.” 

“It’s for your own good, Sir,” FRIDAY jumped in with the conversation, sounding more exasperated than Stephen had ever heard her, like they'd had this conversation one too many times already which, granted, was entirely possible. 

“Whatever you say, traitor,” Tony put the tablet down, “Anything you wanted, doc?” 

Stephen tried not to flinch at the tone Tony used, almost spiteful and definitely dismissing. 

“Yes,” Stephen started, going through a few motions of his hand to move all of Tony's papers away and onto the floor in the exact same way they had been piled, “For you to show me. And don't try to feed me that “Stark men are made of iron” crap again,”

Tony's gasping face was quite frankly hilarious but it didn't take - Stephen had finally decided on mad over concerned. Neither men moved an inch for the next few minutes, staring at each other in the hopes that they would be less stubborn than themselves. Tony went to cross his arms and winced in the process, that was it. 

Stephen sighed, “Tony, this is ridiculous, you're obviously in pain, let me look at you,” 

“Oh you can look at me from where you are, Merlin,”

“ _ Stark, _ ” Stephen pinched the bridge of his nose, willing his painstaking training to actually help him deal with this man for once, “I'm coming over here and taking a look whether you want it or not. Only decision you've got to make is whether you're taking off your shirt by yourself or if I'm doing it.” 

There was a second where Stephen thought Tony was really thinking it over but his wishful thinking came to a rather sudden end. 

“Fuck you, Strange,” 

“Not today, no,” Stephen answered and he definitely did not blush but he still came closer, head bowed in an attempt to hide his face. 

He reached the edge of the bed, his knees pressed against it as he looked up to find Tony's eyes once more, “Are you going to let me do this or not?” 

Tony must have seen something in Stephen's eyes as they once again stared at each other, the sorcerer trying his best to communicate his good intentions, because he gave the tiniest nod. 

“Fine,” Tony stopped slumping and even that tore a flinch from him, “Is--Is there a way you can take that off me without me moving?”

“Sure,” Stephen frowned, Tony’s voice just sounded too small to be his. Stephen went with it anyway and the next second or so, Tony's shirt was laying next to him on the bed and Stephen's frown deepened. 

Black and blue and purple and red. 

The man’s skin was marred all over, long scrapes here and smaller but deeper-looking grazes there. A large mark that went from one of Tony's hips up to his collarbone.

Stephen did not gasp. He did however sit down as gracefully and lightly as he could in front of the other man, his knees underneath him as he started examining him, making a mental list of his injuries that got longer and longer the more his eyes explored Tony's chest. 

“The rest of you alright?” Stephen asked, not looking up at Tony but turning one of the man's arms gently to get a better look at his side. Tony hissed. 

“Yeah,” he said simply and weirdly enough, Stephen didn't question it.

“Okay,” was all Stephen said in answer. 

He shed his outer robes sometime after that, the heat Tony kept his room at catching up with him. He did not miss the look the other man gave him at that but didn't acknowledge it, simply kept going.

“It's mainly superficial, but these,” Stephen circled trembling fingers from one of Tony's pecs down to the V of his hips, outlining two rapidly darkening bruises, “these need healing, you okay with that?” 

Stephen stayed put, silent as Tony fidgeted a little. He tried catching the man’s gaze but Tony avoided it dutifully. He was staring at the wall right to the other side of the bed, his face mostly hidden from Stephen's view but for the way his brows bunched up in a frown and made his cheekbone jut up. 

“Tony?” Stephen couldn't help it, he reached a hand towards the man's face, slow and gentle as he set it on Tony's jaw, carefully pulling him to face the other way around and searching his eyes, “Would it make it better if I explained, as I go?” 

Stephen stroked the man's cheek with a trembling thumb, his breaths coming in sharp intakes as he fell down a well of honey browns. Reading Tony had never been easier than in this moment and Stephen could only be grateful that the man was granting him such unlimited access even if it came to be short-lived. For now, the sorcerer was overwhelmed with just how much he could get from the glint in Tony's eyes and the way they twitched in the corners - mostly fear it seemed, but born from a variety of different reasons. Magic, unknown and unexplainable in the ways Tony held as truth. He had no control over it and that was scary in itself, releasing control and giving it over to someone else, that had to be terrifying and the way Tony bit his bottom lip with relentless nips was just one sign of it. Powers that he didn't understand in the hands of someone he wanted to trust but then again held back in the fear, drilled into his mind in countless occurrences, that the second he granted his trust it would be broken, betrayed in one way or another. 

Terror, of giving himself over to be touched and manipulated when he knew he wouldn't be able to stop it in any other way than easily waved off, weak, useless protesting - it almost made Stephen's eyes water with the need to reassure him, soothe him.

There was hope there too laced with a pride that held it down but it was there anyway and Stephen chose to seize it. 

He made a half circle with his hand, palm open and facing the ceiling. Tony's eyes widened, Stephen made a little shushing noise - soft, but enough to get Tony's eyes back to his.

“This is  _ nidāna _ , diagnostic, I just want to make sure there's nothing else going on. You won't feel anything,” Stephen tried a smile, reassuring people had never been his strong suit, “May I?”

There was another silence, not quite as long as the previous one before Tony nodded.

“Thank you, keep your eyes on my face or follow my hand, whatever gives you the most comfort, okay?”

Tony's hands flexed into fists on his lap before he put one of them on Stephen's knee, the one opposite to his still glowing hand, “Okay,”

It was Stephen's turn to nod, whether it was to Tony or himself didn't matter. He started.

“I'll go from top to bottom,” he said and moved his hand accordingly, but halting midway through the motion when Tony snorted.

“Good to know,” 

Stephen raised an eyebrow before allowing himself to chuckle, this did not have to be awkward, count on Tony to make him see that.

He very nearly lost himself in the look of mirth and flirtation that had filled Tony's gaze before the purplish bruise blossoming right above his jaw brought him back to the present.

“One thing at a time Anthony, I'm busy playing doctor for now,” Stephen winked, happy to see Tony develop a gentle flush and relax further even with Stephen's hand hovering over his most serious looking injuries. 

This part was shorter than Stephen anticipated the next would be and before long he was retrieving his hand and switching spells. The reddish circle that appeared around his palm had Tony tensing all over again but Stephen went slow. 

“This one's  _ kvānsara _ , healer. It's painless but should feel a little warm. It won't fix you completely just soothe most of this,” Stephen brushed the back of the hand not sporting his magic over one of the rare intact parts of Tony's chest, “Still okay?”

Tony screwed his eyes shut for a few seconds, “Yeah, okay, go ahead,” 

And Stephen did, as efficiently as he could and Tony once again relaxed under his careful ministration, the sound of his evening breaths indicible in how they satisfied Stephen. Tony trusting him in this way or even trying to was like a gulp of fresh water to a parched man, the end of a desert and the beginning of this something more that remained unnamed between them. 

Stephen longed to kiss him and when Tony's eyes did a back and forth between his lips and his eyes Stephen understood he could, and he did. He pressed their lips together, just set, warm and safe in their silent promises. They kissed for longer than a kiss could last, interspersed by their respective unsynced breathing until Stephen drew brack just enough to rest their foreheads together. 

Neither man said a word as Stephen started projecting his magic onto Tony's skin, warmth spreading in the abused muscles and bones alike and still, their foreheads stayed connected. 

Stephen closed his eyes at some point and just let the spell put as much or as little strength as was needed for each gash, breathing through the transfer of power, from his mind and body alike to Tony's. 

Tony's hand had been on his knee during the whole ordeal and Stephen jolted a bit when he moved it. He opened his eyes, almost cross-eyed as he searched Tony's face. The man put his hand on the side of Stephen's neck, barely a push and then more of a grasp, a thank you without words. 

Stephen leaned back, “Better?”

“Could be worse, could be better,” Tony shrugged, “You could be kissing me again. Or wearing less clothes. Or--”

Stephen put a finger to Tony's lips, moving impossibly closer as he did, “Or you could stop talking?”

Tony smirked against the finger, “Make me,  _ doctor _ .”

And that he did. Gladly so. 

In fact, they both lost track of who kissed who and for how long, not that it really mattered but for FRIDAY forgetting to mention Pepper's arrival and subsequent walk-in into the room. 

She stopped dead in her tracks and really, Stephen should have sensed her presence. He didn't - not until Tony drew back and flashed her his prettiest fake smile.

“Do let yourself in Pep. Not interrupting anything. Obviously.” 

He must have been the only one in the room who wasn't blushing - a bright red that went down to Stephen's neck and a soft pink of amusement coloring Pepper's cheeks. 

She didn't acknowledge Tony's remarks nor his wink but chose to address Stephen instead, as unfazed as ever as she took in his flushed face and reddened lips, “Nothing I haven't seen before, but I do apologize Stephen. Just wanted to make sure DUM-E got you right where he wanted.” 

She left under Tony's cries of offense at not being apologized to as well, laughing. 

“Right where he wanted me?” Stephen blinked.

“Yeah, he's romantic like that, brings me my lovers to bed,” Tony kissed Stephen's lips in a playful peck.

“ _ Lovers _ ?” Stephen pushed him away with one hand on each shoulder, “As in, plural?” 

“Possessive much, sweetling?” 

“You have no idea,  _ lover _ ,” the hands on Tony's shoulders pressed for him to fall back and lie down, mindful of his injuries still. Then Stephen went back to their original occupation - stealing each other's air. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> More in a day or two :)


End file.
